Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's winning gamble, winner of the Tour de France one year after her Olympic triumph

She gave herself three years. Three years to master the road, understand its rhythms, and perhaps, one day, aim for the final victory. But Pauline Ferrand-Prévot has never liked to wait. A year after her Olympic triumph in cross-country mountain biking at the Paris 2024 Games, the Frenchwoman won the Women's Tour de France on Sunday, August 3, at her first attempt. As if challenges for her lost all resistance the moment she named them, the leader of Visma-Lease a Bike claimed the last trophy missing from her colossal list of achievements.

At 33, the Frenchwoman triumphed in the premier event of her sport with the same relentless mastery as on the trails of Elancourt (Yvelines) during the Olympic Games . And to finish in style, she claimed a second solo stage victory in a row, Sunday in Châtel (Haute-Savoie). "I dreamed of winning in yellow," she simply stated, the day after her high-flying performance on the slopes of the Col de la Madeleine. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot now moves forward with the gentle brutality of those who know exactly what they came for.

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